Roman Emperors - DIR Agrippina the Elder Agrippina the Elder Donna Hurley Vipsania Agrippina, always simply Agrippina or Agrippina the Elder, when it is necessary to distinguish her from Agrippina the Younger , was a daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and of Julia , the daughter and only child of the emperor Augustus . Marcus Agrippa did not belong to one of Rome's distinguished families but had been one of Augustus' chief supporters in his rise to power and remained a trusted ally. In 21 BC Augustus rewarded him with marriage to Julia , hoping for a direct line of descent with Agrippa serving as regent, if necessary, until any male children came of age. He and Julia did not disappoint. They produced five children, but it was only the family of their second daughter, Agrippina, who would play an important role in the Julio-Claudian dynasty during the next century. Augustus lost little time in claiming this family for himself. He quickly adopted the two oldest boys, Gaius, who was born in 20 B.C., and Lucius, who was born in 17.

A daughter, Julia, was evidently born between the boys and Agrippina between 16 and 13. Augustus' plan for succession seemed in order until Agrippa died in 12 BC, and a second interim solution was necessary. It was provided by another marriage for Julia , this time to Augustus' stepson, the son of his wife Livia , Tiberius Claudius Nero , who would follow him as the emperor Tiberius. Tiberius was to serve as guardian for the young boys until they came of age. But plans miscarried again when the two died prematurely in AD 4 and 2 respectively. [[1]] A final arrangement involved Agrippina. In AD 4 Augustus adopted Tiberius and in doing so made him his heir. To further assure the continuation of the dynasty that he had founded, he had Tiberius adopt his own brother's son, the young Germanicus , although he already had a son of his own. Augustus further arranged that Germanicus marry his granddaughter Agrippina. Their union brought Germanicus closer yet to the imperial house.

[[2]] Wife of Germanicus The marriage of Agrippina and Germanicus proved even more fertile than had that of Julia and Agrippa . Of their nine children, two died in infancy and another as a toddler, but six, three males and three females, survived to maturity. These offspring promised a stable future for the imperial house. Near the end of his life, Augustus brought the two oldest, Nero and Drusus, into the royal box at games and showed them off in order to advertise family continuity. They added to the popularity of Germanicus as well, and Agrippina acquired a well-deserved reputation for successful childbearing. [[3]] In AD 12 Germanicus left Rome to assume command of the legions on the Rhine frontier. Agrippina joined him in 14 and, so far as is known, remained in the north until 17. They had with them their youngest son, two-year old Gaius . It was at this time that the little boy acquired his nickname Caligula ("Little Boots") from the footwear worn by the legionaries. Agrippina paraded him about dressed in a soldier's costume, another display of their children for the benefit of the imperial house.

But she began to be accused of bringing attention to herself and to her husband at the expense of the present emperor. [[4]] When Augustus died in the late summer of AD 14, Agrippina was in Germanicus' camp near the present city of Cologne. The legions, dissatisfied with terms of their service, used the occasion to demand improved conditions. The unrest forced her to evacuate to a safer area in the south of the frontier region. In September of AD 15 she was once again in a forward position as she rallied discouraged legions returning from a difficult German campaign. She prevented the destruction of a temporary bridge across the Rhine and by her action gained a reputation for prowess and fortitude. The first two of her three daughters ( Agrippina the Younger and Drusilla) were born during this period, both probably in the territory of the Treveri, near modern Koblenz. [[5]] Germanicus was recalled to Rome after the end of the campaigning year of AD 16. Agrippina returned with him, and their children, now numbering five, all took part in their father's triumphal parade in May of AD 17.

Once again the great-grandchildren of Augustus gave an effective public face to the imperial house. [[6]] Next, Germanicus was given a special command (maius imperium, "greater power") to settle affairs in Rome's eastern theater, Asia Minor today. Agrippina once more went with him, again with "Little Boots" in tow. Their last child, a daughter, Julia Livia (Livilla), was born in early 18 on the island of Lesbos on their way to his headquarters in Syria. In the autumn of AD 19, Germanicus died under suspicious circumstances. Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso commanded the legions in Syria; Germanicus' authority overlapped his. Predictable animosity followed, and Piso would be accused of poisoning the young and popular prince. An additional layer of distrust was added by the allegation that Augustus' wife Livia incited Piso's wife, her friend Plancina, against Agrippina. But even without Livia's prodding, Plancina was jealous of Agrippina's superior status.

[[7]] When Germanicus died, Agrippina was said to have received his dying words: He urged her to "lay aside her intractable temper" in order to avoid conflict with powers in Rome who were stronger than she was, and he asked his circle of friends to present the granddaughter of Augustus and his six children to the Roman people. Whether or not Germanicus actually spoke these words on his deathbed, the narrative legitimately anticipates the difficulties that would follow for Agrippina and their children. She returned to Italy dramatically bearing her husband's ashes. She was met first by an escort of praetorians and then, closer to Rome, by family members. She received the attention due a hero's wife. [[8]] Hostility in the Court of Tiberius Despite Germanicus' warning, Agrippina did become involved in court politics as an advocate for her own sons in opposition to Drusus, the natural son of Tiberius . While Germanicus lived, he had a circle of followers who anticipated the day when he would succeed Tiberius . These men now transferred their attention to his oldest sons, Nero and Drusus, who were in their early teens when their father died.

Their mother anchored the hopes of the boys and their supporters. There was talk of a "party of Agrippina", although the label probably refers to a perception of court politics rather than to an organized movement. The intrigues of the ambitious praetorian prefect, Lucius Aelius Sejanus, made the conflict more lethal, but Agrippina's personality evidently contributed to the hostile atmosphere. [[9]] Her strength and steadfastness could easily be read as ambition and arrogance. She possessed "insolent speech and a stubborn spirit". She was "impatient of equality, eager to be in charge and cast off the faults of women in exchange for the responsibilities of men." [[10]] Conflict between the widow and the emperor grew more serious. She was attacked indirectly when her friends were attacked. At one point Agrippina asked Tiberius for permission to remarry. He refused to answer her, for he understood the implications of her request; a fresh marriage would have allowed the granddaughter of Augustus to introduce a protector for her sons. Besides, although she was no longer very young, her known fertility might bring complications. Distrust escalated.

Sejanus stirred up trouble by telling her that Tiberius wanted to poison her, and as a result Agrippina refused food from his hand; Tiberius did not forgive the insult. [[11]] Finally, Agrippina and her oldest son Nero were arrested, perhaps put under house detention as early as AD 27. When they were exiled to the Pontian islands off the coast of Naples in 29, crowds protested in the streets. Agrippina's second son, Drusus, was arrested in 30 and kept in Rome. Nero was forced to suicide in 31. Agrippina remained intractable even as a prisoner; on one occasion her behavior earned her a beating so severe that she lost an eye. She starved to death in 33, either intentionally or because food was withheld. Drusus died of starvation the same year. The day she died was declared a holiday. [[12]] Conclusion Germanicus and the granddaughter of Augustus continued to provide political capital for their children and grandchildren. Agrippina's last surviving son, Gaius , survived the purges of Sejanus and Tiberius to become emperor in 37.

One of his first acts upon accession was to retrieve the relics of his mother Agrippina and his brother Nero from the islands where they had died and to give them proper burial in the Mausoleum of Augustus . [[13]] Her three daughters, Agrippina, Drusilla, and Livilla, were players in the power struggles that took place during the reigns of Gaius and Claudius . The oldest of them, Agrippina the Younger , became the wife of Claudius and then the mother of the emperor Nero . BIBLIOGRAPHY Agrippina the Elder | Article about Agrippina the Elder by The Free Dictionary Agrippina the Elder | Article about Agrippina the Elder by The Free Dictionary Related to Agrippina the Elder: Caligula , Roman Emperor Caligula Agrippina the Elder (ăg'rĭpī`nə), d. A.D. 33, Roman matron; daughter of Agrippa and Julia and granddaughter of Augustus. She was the wife of Germanicus Caesar Germanicus Caesar , 15 B.C.–A.D. 19, Roman general, son of Drusus Senior. He was adopted (A.D.

4) by his uncle Emperor Tiberius. Germanicus fought (A.D. 8) in Pannonia and Dalmatia and in A.D. ..... Click the link for more information. and accompanied him on his provincial duties. After her husband's death (A.D. 19), she accused Tiberius Tiberius (Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus) , 42 B.C.–A.D. 37, second Roman emperor (A.D. 14–A.D. 37). He was the son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla and was originally named Tiberius Claudius Nero. He campaigned (20 B.C.) in Armenia, became (19 B.C. ..... Click the link for more information. of having Germanicus poisoned, and thereafter she was consistently on bad terms with the emperor. Exiled to Pandataria (Ventotene) Island in the Bay of Naples, she starved herself to death. Her son Caius Caesar Germanicus became the emperor Caligula Caligula , A.D. 12–A.D. 41, Roman emperor (A.D. 37–A.D.

41); son of Germanicus Caesar and Agrippina the Elder. His real name was Caius Caesar Germanicus. As a small child, he wore military boots, whence his nickname [caligula=little boot]. ..... Click the link for more information. . Tiberius - Ancient History Encyclopedia Tiberius by Donald L. Wasson published on 19 July 2012 Tiberius , the adopted son of Roman Emperor Augustus , never aspired to follow in his stepfather’s footsteps -- that path was chosen by his domineering mother, Livia . His 23 year reign as emperor (14 CE to 37 CE) would see him estranged from his controlling mother and living in self-imposed exile from the duties of running an empire . In 42 BCE Tiberius Claudius Nero and his wife Livia Drusilla welcomed the birth of a son, Tiberius Julius Caesar . The marriage was a rocky one: the family was forced to live temporarily in exile because of Tiberius’ father’s anti-Augustus views.

Historian Suetonius wrote in his The Twelve Caesars, “His childhood and youth were beset with hardships and difficulties because Nero (his father) and Livia took him wherever they went in their flight from Augustus.” When the young Tiberius was almost four, his parents divorced (Nero would die six years later), and his mother set her sights on another husband and father for her son -- who better than the one-time enemy of her ex-husband, Augustus. Remove Ads Advertisement In 39 BCE Livia got her wish when she and Augustus were married. The marriage presented an opportunity for Tiberius to be in line for possible succession to the imperial throne, but at the time of the marriage, he was neither Augustus’ favorite nor the next in line. Augustus had groomed his two grandsons, Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar, by his troublesome daughter Julia (her mother was wife number two, Scribonia) to succeed him.

Later, however, to ensure his possible ascension to the imperial throne, Tiberius was forced to divorce (at Augustus’ orders) his beloved, pregnant wife Vispania Agrippa (the daughter of Admiral Marcus Agrippa) and in 12 BCE to marry the recently widowed Julia. Tiberius loathed his new wife but, luckily for him, her reputation (among other things, an adulterer) forced Augustus to exile her, even though Tiberius had unsuccessfully appealed to Augustus on her behalf. She met her death by starvation in 14 CE. While Tiberius did not mourn the death of Julia, he seemed even less than enthusiastic when Julia’s two children died; Gaius in battle and Lucius by illness. While this placed Tiberius (by now the adopted son of Augustus) next in line, he had never demonstrated any excitement about becoming emperor -- the excitement was all Livia’s. It should be noted that Tiberius was in his forties when he was finally adopted, a practice not uncommon in Rome . Tiberius’ mother had loftier plans for her son.

The historian Cassius Dio wrote: Remove Ads Advertisement … in the time of Augustus she [Livia] possessed the greatest influence, and she always declared that it was she who had made Tiberius emperor; consequently, she was not satisfied to rule in equal terms with him, but wished to take precedence over him. Her controlling influence would not last. After Tiberius reluctantly became emperor -- historians argue whether or not Livia had a hand in Augustus’ death -- Livia was removed entirely from public affairs and was even forbidden to hold a banquet in Augustus’ memory. Tiberius refrained from having any future contact with her. When she died in 29 CE at the age of 86, ... Tiberius neither paid her any visits during her illness nor did he himself lay out her body; in fact, he made no arrangements at all in her honour except for the public funeral and images and some other matters of no importance. The historian Tacitus added that Tiberius excused himself from the funeral “… on the ground of the pressure of business.” Tiberius had been an excellent general, serving with distinction in Germany and holding the governorship of Gaul .

The fact that Tiberius had never wanted to become emperor was evident. He had always excelled outside the political arena. He had been an excellent general, serving with distinction in Germany and holding the governorship of Gaul. However, in 6 BCE he abruptly went into self-imposed exile on the island of Rhodes (possibly to escape Julia), not returning to Rome until 2 CE -- he had to request permission from Augustus to return. In fact, he was often referred to as simply “the exile.” In 14 CE Augustus died, allowing Tiberius to become the new emperor of the Roman Empire . As with many of those who followed him, his first few years as emperor went well. He shied away from much of the pageantry that followed his ascension, giving respect to the authority of the Senate. Cassius Dio wrote, “Tiberius was a patrician of good education (he spoke Greek fluently) but had a most peculiar nature.

He never let what he desired appear in his conversation, and what he said he wanted he usually did not desire at all.” Considered a miser by some and modest by others, he began but did not finish many public works projects (most were completed later by Caligula ). In his mind his assumption of the imperial throne was threatened by another: Germanicus Julius Caesar Claudianus, Tiberius’ adopted son (at Augustus’s request) and the true choice of many of the generals. Germanicus, however, silenced those outspoken opponents of Tiberius and voiced his support of the new emperor. Germanicus - Son of Antonia | Armstrong Economics Germanicus Brother of Emperor Claudius Father of Emperor Caligula Germanicus was the elder son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia and therefore represented the first potential heir from the combined Julio-Claudian bloodline. Germanicus was born in 15 BC and was adopted by Tiberius in 4 AD at the time Tiberius himself was adopted by Augustus as his ultimate heir. Germanicus possessed all the highest qualities of body and mind, to a degree never equalled by anyone.

A handsome person, unequalled valor, surpassing ability in the oration of Greece and Rome, unexampled kindliness, and a remarkable desire and capacity for winning men’s regard and inspiring their affection. Suetonius Life of Caligula Ill Suetonius portrays an image of Germanicus which is beyond probability. The reality of Germanicus was much less perfect, but given the emotional tide of the period, the favoritism history has shown toward Germanicus is understandable. We must keep in mind that Augustus ruled as Emperor for nearly 41 years. This is certainly time enough for the generations to come and go. Therefore, the rule of Augustus was similar to the first 40 years following World War II where peace prevailed for the most part and prosperity filled the land. In this context, the young Germanicus appeared very much to the people as did John F. Kennedy in modern times. And like Kennedy, who became more perfect after his assassination, so did Germanicus in his time period. If we look beyond the legend and into the history of the man we see very much a young dashing politician who perhaps represented to the people the dawn of a new generation.

Germanicus was married around 8 BC to Agrippina, the daughter of Agrippa and Julia. Agrippina was a very outspoken woman who accompanied her husband on all his campaigns and bore him five sons and three daughters, one of who would become the future Emperor Caligula. Their daughter, Agrippina Junior, became the mother of the future Emperor Nero. When Tiberius came to power, he emphasized his heirs being Germanicus and his own son Drusus as illustrated above. Both Drusus and Germanicus played important roles in suring up the support for Tiberius following the death of Augustus. Drusus was sent to settle the unrest among the legions in Pannomia while Germanicus’ first major role in history was to suppress the mutiny of the Rhine legions. Tacitus claims that the soldiers offered to make him Emperor instead of Tiberius, but again in reality the troops merely wanted higher pay and better conditions. Germanicus was not able to simply solve the problem. However, he had taken his wife Agrippina the Elder and their family along with him to the frontier. When the situation became dangerous Germanicus was forced to order his wife to leave with the children.

Her departure so shamed the mutineers that the revolt quickly subsided. It was actually during this campaign when the future Emperor Caligula was born. Germanicus’ popularity was indeed very much enhanced by the actions of his wife. During another campaign against the Chatti and Germanic tribes, Agrippina worked personally to prevent panic from spreading among the legions stationed in the encampment on the Rhine. She worked distributing food and clothing among the inhabitants and gained much popularity among the Roman people for her actions. Germanicus remained with the Rhine legions between 14 and 16 AD . He did lead the legions deep into Germany in successive campaigns and managed to recover two of the three legionary standards lost at the Teutonburg Forest byQuintillius Varus. He also buried the remains of whatever Roman dead he encountered. In reality, Germanicus was at best a moderately competent general but his second campaign into Germany nearly ended in disaster. Tiberius recalled Germanicus to Rome and gave him a splendid triumph on May 26th, 17 AD . This was perhaps more of a propaganda event on the part of Tiberius to win popular support.

However, it was during this period where the emotional support for Germanicus became quite noticeable in Rome, which caused some concern at court. Perhaps by the design of Livia, Tiberius’ scheming mother, Germanicus was ordered to the East in an attempt to remove him from Rome. Tiberius also appointed Germanicus, his colleague, as consul in 18 AD , which marked Germanicus as the chosen successor. Germanicus departed Rome for the East shortly after his triumph in 17 AD . While at Antioch in Syria, Germanicus came into conflict with Gnaeus Piso, the new governor of Syria and friend of Tiberius. Germanicus clearly over stepped his authority by visiting Egypt without imperial permission. When Germanicus became ill and died at Antioch on October 10th, 19 AD , his wife Agrippina insisted that he had been poisoned by Piso. Agrippina marched to Rome and held a funeral procession for Germanicus and openly accused both Livia and Tiberius of ordering his murder. Tiberius was forced to put his friend Piso on trial.

In the end, Piso was compelled to commit suicide, but Agrippina insured that suspicion toward Tiberius would never disappear. Monetary System Note: All the coins bearing his name and portrait were struck about twenty years and more after his death. Mints: Rome, Caesarea Roman Emperors - DIR Germanicus Germanicus Julius Caesar (15 B.C.- A.D. 19) Donna Hurley Introduction Germanicus Julius Caesar [[1]] was born in 15 BC to Nero Claudius Drusus (Drusus the Elder, the son of Augustus' wife Livia by her earlier marriage) and Antonia Minor (Augustus' niece, the daughter of Mark Antony and his sister Octavia). There is no record of his birth name, but it was probably that of his father or possibly Tiberius Claudius Nero. His father's brother (the future emperor Tiberius ) named his son after Drusus, and Drusus may have reciprocated. Drusus was awarded the honorific name of Germanicus posthumously for his successful campaigns against German tribes, and it passed to his sons when he died in 9 B.C.

Germanicus was known by that name in antiquity and has been even since. His heritage was auspicious and his career promising, but an early death (AD 19) kept him from achieving the prize of the principate. He nonetheless influenced history for the next fifty years and was the father of one emperor, the brother of another, and the grandfather of a third. [[2]] Early Advancement In A. D. 4, the aging Augustus found it necessary to make another in the series of arrangements with which he expected to provide for the continuation of the principate after his death. It would be the last. The previous one, the adoption of his grandsons Gaius and Lucius, failed when the young men died in AD 2 and 4. At this point he adopted his stepson Tiberius , now in his late forties, and Agrippa Postumus, his last surviving grandson, and he had Tiberius adopt Germanicus despite the fact that Tiberius had a son of his own, Nero Claudius Drusus (Drusus the Younger), who was a few years younger than Germanicus. Adoption changed the names of all these candidates, and Germanicus became Germanicus Julius Caesar.

[[3]] Experience had taught Augustus that multiple heirs were in order. [[4]] The settlement of AD 4 included a plan for Germanicus to marry Agrippina (Agrippina the Elder) , a daughter of Augustus' daughter Julia by Marcus Agrippa . It was a productive union in more ways than one. Not only did Agrippina offer the prestige of her Julian blood to the Claudian branch of the family but she proved exceptionally fertile, bearing Germanicus nine children in the next fourteen years. Six survived their father. They were security for the dynasty, contributed to Germanicus' popularity, and became players in the political intrigues of the mid-first century. [[5]] Germanicus was advanced quickly as was usual, with the young men of the imperial family destined for important careers. He embarked on the cursus honorum, the series of magistracies that culminated in the consulship by being allowed to stand for the quaestorship in AD 7 at the age of 20, five years before the prescribed minimum. He skipped the next stage, the praetorship, and proceeded directly to the consulship in 12.

In the intervening years, he held subordinate commands on the Danube frontier under his uncle Tiberius (AD 7-9), and was rewarded with the ornmenta triumphalia (AD 9), the trappings of the triumph without the parade, and with the perquisites of a praetor when he was in the senate. That same year Tiberius was transferred to the Rhine frontier in response to the disaster that befell P. Quinctilius Varus when he and three legions were trapped, massacred and their standards captured at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest . Germanicus joined Tiberius in Germany in 11. He spent the year 12 in Rome as consul. [[6]] His position as second in line for the principate had strengthened. Although Augustus was still alive, he was feeble, and Tiberius , positioned to succeed him, was in his fifties, a more advanced age in ancient Rome than it is today. One contender from Germanicus' own generation, Agrippa Postumus, evidently impatient of his subordinate position, had fallen from favor and was dispatched to increasingly remote places of exile after AD 6.

[[7]] The other, Drusus the Younger was advancing in parallel but a few years behind. Command in the West So far, Germanicus had been fighting as a deputy of Tiberius , but in 13 Augustus made him governor of Upper and Lower Germany, west of the Rhine, administratively part of Gallia and Belgica. With the appointment came the command of eight legions, four attached to each province. Augustus died in August of AD 14, and the stability of the Empire was tested by the first transfer of power. Mutinies stemming from grievances about pay and discharge broke out simultaneously on the Danube and German frontiers, and the legionaries in the West used the uncertainty of events in Rome to offer their allegiance to Germanicus, who was the man on the spot. They offered to swear to him as their new imperator rather than to Tiberius . Germanicus extricated himself by means that were less than admirable, although in his defense it can be said that the situation was tense and very difficult. To his credit he refused to accept their oath of allegiance, but when he tried to quiet them by threatening suicide, some (to his embarrassment) moved to accept his offer.

His solution was essentially to pay them off; he effected it by forging a letter from Tiberius that gave them all that they wanted. But unrest continued, for when Tiberius' envoys came from Rome, they were almost killed because the soldiers understood that the letter was a forgery and thought that the envoys intended to nullify the promises that Germanicus had made. Threats were made against his wife and son Gaius (Caligula) who were with him at his headquarters. Germanicus had to bargain with them to allow his pregnant wife to depart for safer quarters. When it was over, he chose a coward's method of discipline when he turned them loose on one another to settle scores for themselves. Finally, he diverted them with a brief military excursion. [[8]] Germanicus was nonetheless a popular leader. Loyalty to a field commander was usually a given, his connections with Augustus were helpful, and the display of his small son dressed like a little soldier ( Caligula = "Little Boots") was an effective public relations gambit. During the next two years Germanicus made major incursions into German territory east of the Rhine following the example of his father's campaigns of 12-9 BC.

In AD 15 he marched against the Chatti and then against the Cherusci led by the charismatic chieftain Arminius. In the course of the campaign, one of the standards lost with Varus' legions was recovered, important symbolically because it reversed the shame of the legion's annihilation. When they found themselves in the region of the Teutoburg Forest, the site of the massacre, they buried the Roman bones that has been left there. The Germans harassed the Romans as they returned to the safety of the Rhine and their winter camps beyond. Roman invasions of Germany were always indecisive, because Rome was never able to hold territory against an enemy that faded away after defeat only to return. The terrain was wooded and often water-logged, and the Germans had the tactical advantage of maneuverability. [[9]] In the spring of the next year (AD 16) Germanicus went east again, this time embarking his force on ships that sailed down the Rhine and then through the canal that had been engineered by his father Drusus a generation earlier in order to enter on the North Sea. From there they sailed East to the mouth of the river Ems and proceeded upstream to penetrate German territory.

They then marched eastward to the river Weser, crossed it and engaged Arminius in battle at a site named Idistaviso. The Roman victory there marked the nominal submission of all the tribes west of the river Elbe, an important boundary because it was the furthest penetration of his father's incursion in 9 BC. The Romans were successful (as always) against the Germans in pitched battle, but (as always) this was not a permanent territorial conquest. Germanicus sent most of his force back by way of the same water route as they had come, and they were caught in a costly storm on the North Sea. By the end of the campaigning season the legions were in their winter quarters west of the Rhine, but not before a second of the three standards lost with Varus had been recovered. [[10]] In the meantime, Germanicus had been granted a full triumph by Tiberius . It was the last that any general who was not a reigning emperor would be given and even then was reserved for someone close to the throne.

The award was made in AD 15, but Germanicus delayed coming home to celebrate it and continued to operate in the field through 16; allegedly he wanted to keep on later still. The triumph took place on May 26, AD 17, and his five living children rode with him in the parade as an advertisement for a long an stable future. [[11]] Tacitus intimates that Tiberius had brought him back to Rome because he did not trust him at the head of a large military force and that he had substituted the honor of the triumph for the field command. Popular perception assumed that Germanicus was a threat to his adoptive father. In reality, Tiberius may have understood that indecisive stabs east of the Rhine were a futile waste of resources and that it was time to stop. As for Germanicus' anticipating the principate, he could be patient; Tiberius was now almost sixty. And he had already resisted temptation once. [[12]] Command in the East In 18, Germanicus was consul again, and this time he shared the honor with the emperor, a distinction reserved for an intended heir.

When he entered office, he was already on his way to a new command in the East. Tiberius had given him maius imperium over the territory east of the Adriatic, a command that was not limited geographically but superseded the authority of all the governors in the area. The need for the extraordinary power was dictated by the unsettling effect of power struggles within Rome's client territories of Asia Minor and also by the necessity of giving Germanicus a responsibility commensurate with his status. Germanicus approached his new base (Antioch in the imperial province of Syria) by way of a grand tour of the eastern Mediterranean, touching on Actium, the site of the final showdown between his great-uncle Augustus and his grandfather Mark Antony, on Athens, and on the site of ancient Troy. Along the way, Agrippina gave birth on the island of Lesbos to their last child, Julia Livilla. [[13]] Once in Syria Germanicus quickly came into conflict with Cn. Calpurnius Piso, whom Tiberius had appointed as governor of that province at the time when Germanicus received maius imperium.

Piso was "a man of intractable temper with family history of hostility to the Caesars," [[14]] and in Germanicus he recognized the beginnings of hereditary monarchy. Each probably thought that the other was exceeding his jurisdiction, and their wives acted out their rivalry. Piso's wife (Munatia) Plancina reviewed military maneuvers in answer to what can be assumed to be Agrippina's display of her son Gaius , who had evidently been brought along in order to replay the success that he had had as 'little boots' with the troops on the German frontier. The rumor arose that Tiberius had appointed Piso for the specific purpose of monitoring Germanicus. [[15]] Germanicus fulfilled his mandate to display a Roman presence in the area and to settle internal affairs. In the client kingdom of Armenia, he crowned Artaxias, who was a friendly ally, and installed the first Roman governor of the new province of Cappadoccia. [[16]] In AD 19, he left Asia Minor and visited Egypt. He went, it was said, in response to famine but the trip included a sightseeing tour, rather in the spirit of his initial journey to the East.

He was warmly received when he moved unpretentiously among the populace and especially when he opened the doors of the grain storehouses. He was displaying civilitas (citizen-like behavior) and liberalitas (generosity), virtues associated with imperial largesse. He was upstaging Tiberius . He was either oblivious to the effect of his behavior or he was intentionally testing the waters. His action was aggravated by the fact that all men of senatorial rank were strictly forbidden to set foot in Egypt, which was under the emperor's personal control. [[17]] His visit and his grandstanding there, if arguably appropriate for the 'almost-emperor' that he was, understandably irked the actual emperor. [[18]] Germanicus' Death and the Trial of Piso When Germanicus returned to Syria at the end of summer, he found that Piso had undone arrangements that he had made and was harassing his party of aides and advisors. Hostility became open, and Germanicus renounced amicitia (friendship) with Piso, banished him from his company, and may have ordered him from his post and from the province as well. Piso claimed that he had.

If he did he was arguably within the authority of his maius imperium although Piso was Tiberius' appointee. In any case, Piso did abandon his command. He went to an island off the coast so that he could return if the opportunity should arise. It seemed possible since Germanicus had fallen ill shortly after his return from Egypt. He suspected that Piso had cursed him by placing devotional objects (human remains, lead tablets and the like) in his house and was in the process of poisoning him. [[19]] Germanicus died in Antioch on October 10, AD 19. Rumor had it that his corpse bore marks of poison: black and blue marks, foaming at the mouth, a heart that would not burn on the funeral pyre. Eulogies compared him with Alexander, who had died at the same age. [[20]] His aides in Syria appointed Cn. Sentius to fill the post abandoned by Piso. Piso reasserted himself and tried to regain the governorship, claiming that Germanicus had forced him from the province illegally in order to be free to attempt a coup against Tiberius .

His reentry to Syria with a military force was easily countered and he was sent back to Rome to stand trial for treason. [[21]] Agrippina returned to Rome with her husband's ashes early the next year (AD 20), coming home accompanied by the two children who were with her, Gaius (Caligula) and the baby Julia Livilla. There are reports of overwhelming grief in Rome; the people had looked forward to a new princeps to whom they could attach their emotions. At the present, they had only Tiberius , who seems to have been genuinely oblivious to the need to act the role of nurturing monarch, a role already expected in the young Empire. Germanicus' ashes were placed in the mausoleum of Augustus and there was a lengthy period of mourning. But what gave closure to Germanicus' story was the trial of Piso. [[22]] Germanicus' circle lost the focus of their hopes when he died, for he took with him their expectation of being close to the center of power in the near future.

Those who had been with him in the East returned to Rome and were waiting to challenge Piso and Plancina, who came back bluffing their innocence of any kind of wrongdoing. Piso was tried in the senatorial court as was appropriate since the wronged party was the emperor's son. The primary charge was treason -- insubordination and the inciting of sedition -- with an additional charge of poisoning. The prosecution's case in regard to poison was weak, but Piso was manifestly guilty of treason. When he saw that his case was lost, he killed himself before the trial ended. His wife was cleared through the influence of her close friend Livia , Tiberius' mother. [[23]] Tacitus gives the fullest report of the trial, and his account has been proved essentially accurate by a recently discovered bronze tablet which gives the official version of the trial and its result. [[24]] The issue was indeed treason, not poison, and Tiberius was concerned to appear impartial.

Tacitus departs from the official version with the addition of a rumor that Piso had in his possession a letter from Tiberius instructing him in regard to Germanicus and that he intended to show it to the senate and implicate Tiberius in what had taken place in Syria. He further implies that Piso's death might not have been a suicide but an execution to prevent the disclosure. In a sense the bronze tablet corroborates Tacitus' innuendo, for the careful and detailed report that was set up in every legionary camp in the Empire shows the unpopular Tiberius on the defensive and confirms that the trial was a crisis for him. Tiberius now faced a truly difficult rival. Dead, perhaps martyred, Germanicus remained a formidable force in Roman politics. [[25]] Legacy The successor's mantle now fell on Drusus, Tiberius' natural son. But where were those to look who had pinned their future careers to Germanicus? His oldest sons, Nero and Drusus Caesar, were about 15 and 13, and Agrippina held determinedly to her husband's memory for their sakes.

When Drusus died a few years later (AD 23), these two were heirs prospective although still young and vulnerable to the ambitions of older men. But a new force had arisen in the court. L. Aelius Sejanus, the praetorian prefect (chief officer of the palace guard) was becoming more and more indispensable to the emperor. As the result of intrigue whose details cannot be recovered, Agrippina and her oldest son were exiled by 29. By 30, her second son had been arrested. By 33 all, (including Sejanus) were dead. It was Germanicus' early death that generated the nasty politics of these years. [[26]] The next two emperors, Caligula (37-41) and Claudius (41-54), Germanicus' son and brother respectively, used him as a surrogate with the legions where personal loyalty to a commander was paramount, evoking his name relentlessly in order to trade on his still glowing reputation. They had become emperor only because they belonged to the imperial family; Augustus and Tiberius , on the other hand, had military accomplishments that earned them the title imperator legitimately.

Germanicus was the 'dynastic lynch-pin' between the Julian and Claudian branches of the family, [[27]] and Claudius especially needed him for a closer connection with Augustus . And even thirty years after his death, Nero's direct descent (his mother Agrippina the Younger was Germanicus' daughter) was still an asset. What would a principate of Germanicus have been like? There is no way to know, although there was not much promise in his ineffectual responses during the mutiny on the Rhine or his strangely conceived trip to Egypt. Some, perhaps most, of the adulation accorded him when he was alive was reaction to the unresponsive Tiberius . Much more came from the fact that he had the good fortune to die young and permit legend to take over. If he had succeeded Tiberius , he would have been the first of the Julio-Claudian princes reared to the purple to put on the mantle of the principate. As it turned out, the opportunity was given Caligula . Bibliography AJP Special Issue. (1999). 120. Barnes, T. D. (1998).

"Tacitus and the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre", Phoenix 52: 125-48. Eck, W., and A. Caballos, F. Fernández (1996). Das senatus consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre. Munich. González, J. (1984). "Tabula Siarensis, Fortunales Siarenses et Municipia Civium Romanorum", ZPE 55: 55-100. Gordon, R., and J. Reynolds, M. Beard, C. Roueché, C. (1997). "Roman Inscriptions", JRS 87: 206-40. Griffin, M. (1997). "The Senate's Story", JRS 87: 249-263. Koestermann, E. (1957). "Die Mission des Germanicus im Orient", Historia 6: 331-75. _________ (1958).

"Die Feldzüge des Germanicus 14-16 n. Chr.", Historia 7: 429-79. Levick, B. (1966). "Drusus Caesar and the Adoptions of A.D 4", Latomus 25: 227-44. ________ (1976). Tiberius the Politician. London. Liechtenhan, E. (1947). "Das Ziel des Aufstandes der Rheinarmee", MH 4: 52-67. Lindsay, H. (1995). "A Fertile Marriage: Agrippina and the Chronology of her Children by Germanicus", Latomus 54: 3-17. Mommsen, T. (1878). "Die Familie des Germanicus", Hermes 13: 245-65. Oliver, J. H., and R. E. A. Palmer (1954). "Text of the Tabula Hebana", AJPh 75 : 225-49. Pelling, C.

(1993). "Tacitus and Germanicus": 59-85, in Tacitus and the Tacitean Tradition, T. J. Luce and A. J. Woodman, eds. Princeton. Questa, C. (1957). "Il Viaggio di Germanico in Oriente e Tacito", Maia 9: 291-321. Ross, D. O., Jr. (1973). "The Tacitean Germanicus", YClS 23: 209-27. Rutland, L. W. (1987). "The Tacitean Germanicus: Suggestions for a Re-evaluation", RhM 130: 153-64. Shotter, D. C. A., (1968). "Tacitus, Germanicus and Tiberius" Historia 17: 194-214. Simpson, C. J. (1977). "The Date of Dedication of the Temple of Mars Ultor", JRS 67: 91-4. Simpson, C. J.

(1981). "The Early Name of the Emperor Claudius", AAntHung 29: 363-8. Sumner, G .V. (1967). "Germanicus and Drusus", Latomus 26: 421-33. Syme, R. (1958). Tacitus. Oxford. Timpe, D. (1968). Der Triumph des Germanicus: Untersuchungen zu den Feldzügen der Jahre 14-16 n. Chr. in Germanien, Bonn. Walser, G. (1951). Rom, das Reich und die fremden Völker in der Geschichtsschreibung der frühen Kaiserzeit: Studien zur Glaubwürdigkeit des Tacitus. Baden-Baden. Weingärtner, D. G. (1969). Die Ägyptenreise des Germanicus. Bonn.

Footnotes [[1]] The sources for the life and career of Germanicus are primarily Tacitus, Annals 1-3: Suetonius, Life of Gaius Caligula 1-6; Cassius Dio, Roman History 56-57. Bronze tablets that record decrees the followed his death are the Tabula Hebana (Oliver and Palmer (1954), the Tabula Siarensis (González (1984) and the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre (Eck, Caballos and Fernández (1996). [[2]] His date of birth is calculated from the time of his advancement (Sumner [1967] 421-3). For his birth name, Simpson (1981) 368. For the cognomen Germanicus in the family, Suet, Cl. 1.3; Dio 55.2.3. [[3]] Tiberius Claudius Nero (the future emperor) became Tiberius Julius Caesar. Agrippa Postumus became Agrippa Julius Caear.

Tiberius' son became Drusus Julius Caesar. [[4]] The adoptions: Tac. Ann. 1.3; Suet. Aug. 64.1, 65.1; Tib. 15.2, Calig. 1.1; Dio 54.18.1; 55.13.1a-2; Vell. Pat. 2.96.1, 104.1; Levick (1966). The deaths of Gaius and Lucius: Tac. Ann. 1.3; Suet. Aug. 65.1; Tib. 15.2; Dio 55.10.9-10; Vell. Pat. 2.102.3. [[5]] The children: Suet. Calig. 7; Mommsen (1878); Lindsay (1995). [[6]] Germanicus' early career: Suet.

Calig, 1.1; 8.3; Dio 55.26.1, 31-33.3; 56.11-17, 23.3, 25.2-3; 56.26.1. Sumner (1967) 422-3. [[7]] Agrippa Postumus was killed shortly after Augustus died: Tac. Ann. 1.6; Suet. Tib. 22; Dio 57.3.5-6. For more detail about his fall and Augustus' difficulties in establishing a succession, see Garrett Fagan, Augustus , De Imperatoribus Romanis (1999). [[8]] The mutiny on the Rhine: Tac. Ann. 1.3, 31-51; Suet. Tib. 25.2; Calig. 1.1, 8.3; Dio 57.3.1, 5, 6.1; Vell Pat. 2.123.1, 125.1-4.

Liechtenhan (1947); Walser (1951). [[9]] Campaign of AD 15: Tac. Ann. 1.55-71; Dio 57.18.1. Koestermann (1958); Timpe (1958); both also for the next year's campaign. [[10]] Campaign of AD 16: Tac. Ann. 2.5-26. A fragment of an epic by Albinovanus Pedo evidently describes the ordeal on the North Sea. [[11]] The triumph: Tac. Ann. 1.55; 2.5, 26, 41; Suet. Calig. 1.1; Vell. Pat. 2.129.2. [[12]] Interpretations of the relationship between Germanicus and Tiberius: Shotter (1968); Ross (1973); Rutland (1987); Pelling (1993). [[13]] Command in the East: Tac. Ann. 2.43, 53-54; Suet. Calig.

1.2, 3.2. Koestermann (1957); Questa (1957). [[14]] Syme (1958) 492.

Question: Which Roman Emperor was the son of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder?
Answer: Caligula